Mixed method of perforation for kinematographic films.



E. A. IVATTS.

MIXED METHOD OF PERPORATION FOR KINEMATOGRAPHIG FILMS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 31,1912.

Patented June 17,1913.

InQen-tor Witnesses MEW nmms'r nminnr. rvn'r'rs, or .ramsfirmncn, ASSIGNOR To sooiE'rm "col'trneum GENERALE DE PHONOGBAPHES, CINEMATOGBAPHES E1 APPAREILS DE PBFGL" SIQN, F PARIS, FRANCE.

mxnn mhrnon or rnnromrron ron xmnmnroonarmc Fall-MS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST ALBERT IvAT'rs, a citizen of Great Britain residin at Paris, the Department of the seine and 5 Republic of' France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in" Mixed Methods of Perforation for Kinematographic-Films, of-which the following is a specification.

This invention refers to the perfoi ation of kinematographic films, its subject matter being a mixed method of perforation for .thesaid films.

Ordinarily a kinematographic film has in its border four sets of holes per picture for engagement by the teeth of the wheels or drum which moves said film, but said teeth are so spaced that they engage with only one of said holes per picture, the distance between the holes thus engaged be-.

ing the height of a picture. It'thus results according as the operatorengages the one or other of the four sets or pairs ofholes of the picture with the teeth, that this picture will be higher or lower with respect to the window or opening of the apparatus and it will consequently be necessary by means of some registering arrangement to reestablish the correct position between the window and the picture. This inconvenience can be avoided by employing films having only one pair or set of holes for each picture, as has actually been the case at the commencement of the kinematographic industry.

There then arose another disadvantage because the films thus perforated in order easily to engage with the feeding drums necessitated an almost absolute precision between the length separating each hole and that ,separating each tooth of the drum.

This is practically speaking impossible to obtain owing to the contractions of the films under the action of the weather, moisture and the like.

The mixed method of perforation for I lcine'matographic films forming the sub ect matter of this invention overcomes these drawbacks and consists in employm for each of the borders of the films di erent kinds of perforations, that is to say that one of the borders will be perforated with l, 2, 3, 4 or a greater number of holes for each picture, whereas the other border will be perforated with a different number of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed l'anaaryal, 1912. Serial No. 674,592. 4

Patented June 11', 1913.

the number of holes per picture according to the sort of perforations employed the holes on each border will be equidistant from each other and will be arranged, so that for each picture one of the holesof one sort of per- .forations will alwaysbe situated exactly op posite ortwinned with one of the holes of the other sort ofperforations of the opposite border. These two oppositely situated or twinned holes will serve for .driving the film, thi being effected for example by two oppositely situated or twinned teeth each corresponding to one sort of perforations. With this mixed method of erforation of the films the operator when p acing the film in the. slide will naturally en age the twinned holes of one picture in t e corresponding teeth so that the picture will be automatically registered in its proper position before the window or opening of the projecting apparatus. On the other hand the movement of the film by the feeding drums will be considerably facilitated owing to numerous perforations situated on the borders of the band, the teeth of these drums being arranged so as to exactly coincide with the holes. 1 I shall now describe my invention vwit reference to the accompanying drawing showing examples of this mixed method of perforations, in which:

In Figure 1 the portion of film of any manufacture is formed by a support 1 of celluloid, cellulose, acetate of cellulose and the like coated with an emulsion on which the pictures 2 are printed by any process whatsoever. One of the borders is provided with holes 3, three holes being provided for each picture 2, whereas the opposite border has only two holes 4 for each picture. The

twinned holes of the holes 3 and 4 of the two sorts of perforations being arranged in the manner indicated in the drawing by the dotted lines a a.

In the example according to Fig. 2 the holes 5 of one kind of perforation are characterized in that one of the holes is situ-.. ated in the middle axis bb of the space 6 separating two consecutive pictures 2. 7 are the holes of the other kind of perforation which are arranged so that each hole is in the axis bb and consequently exactly opposite the corresponding holes 5 of the other holes for each picture. -Whatever may be 55 9 racemes kind of erforation. This arrangement permits the perforations 7 encroaching on the spaces 6 and even on the pictures 2 which results in a smaller non-utilized border 8 and consequently .efi'ects an economy of material. This result is not apparent in the drawing at first sight, because in Fig. 2 the perforations along the left hand border are much larger than the corresponding perforations in Fig. l; but itris evident upon a careful comparison of the two figures that with small perforations arranged as in Fig.

2, a decided narrowing of thefilm support;

can be effected.

Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of my invention, I declaro that What I claim is:

1. A kinematographic film having a series of openings along each side, the openings of one series being spaced difierently to the openings of the other series.

2. A kinematographic film bearing a succession of pictures thereon and having a series of openings along each side, the openings of one series being spaced differently to the openings of the other series of openings, the two series being so located relatively to each other that for every picture one opening of each series occurs on the same transverse line of the film.

3. A kinematographic film bearing'a succession of spaced pictures thereon and having a series of respectively equidistant perforations along each side, the openings of one series, being spaced difl'erently to the openings of the other series and encroaching on the space between the pictures, and are each on the same transverse line of the film as one of the openings of the said other I series.

ERNEST ALBERT TIVATTS.

Witnesses CAms DAN'znR, LUcIEN GREsrIN. 

